Kelly O’Dell and Raven Skyriver Demo | Schantz Galleries June Weekend

Each year we feature artists to exhibit in Gallery One for the opening event of the summer in Stockbridge. This year, Paul Stankard, Kelly O’Dell, and Raven Skyriver were the featured artists and the gallery looks fantastic! These three artists are all deeply in tune with their environment and appreciate how glass can be a compelling medium for interpreting flora and fauna. Stankard’s floral paperweights are diminutive and detailed meditations on a flower’s elegant countenance—and the brimming underbelly beneath the soil. O’Dell’s sumptuous ammonites, coral, and fossil-like panels see the long view of nature—its far-reaching past, its captivating present, and its precarious future. Raven Skyriver also brings awareness to the fragility of the ecosystem through his glorious interpretations of marine icons of the Pacific Northwest, captured in an array of forms, colors, and textures as diverse as sea life itself.

Another aspect of the weekend is the Glass Demo which is held at a nearby hotshop in Canaan, NY, called hoogs and crawford. Nathan Hoogs and Elizabeth Crawford have been working in the area for over 20 years, and have a really nice shop.

Following are photos of the demo, where Kelly and Raven created a Nautilus Cephalopod, an awesome sea creature, and an amazing feat in sculpting glass. There was a rapt audience for over 4 hours as we watched the entire process from start to finish, supplied with breakfast and lunch, of course! Assisting artists included Nathan Hoogs, Elizabeth Crawford, Bob Dane, Mike V, Jen Violette and Wren Skyriver. The photos were taken by Amy Postlethwait, and videographer, Jeff Masotti will be sending us a video for our collection as well.

Kelly's special tool she invented to curl a nautilus!

Sculpting the tentacles or arms of the Cephalopod

Kelly O'Dell

Jen Violette

Kelly and Wren

High drama was featured here!!

“O’Dell’s glass pieces memorialize nature’s lost glories, endeavor to forestall future destruction, and contemplate the universal life cycle of life, death, and renewal.”

Veneration of nature defines glass artist Kelly O’Dell. O’Dell was raised in Hawaii, where the arts (her parents had a stained and furnace glass studio in their home) and the lush environment were woven into her upbringing. Kelly O’Dell sees nature in the long view—its far-reaching past, its captivating present, and its precarious future. Just as the phenomena of past millennia are written in the planet today, the actions of the present create ripples going forward. The Ammonite was a coiled cephalopod that became extinct 65 million years ago when a comet hit the earth near the Yucatan peninsula, altering the weather dramatically and making most life unsustainable. Exquisite shells were left behind, empty homes to animals no longer alive, embedding their intricate patterns in the earth. O’Dell mimics these fossilized impressions in panels, liquid glass melting like a massive glacier, suspending shell slices in perpetuity. Exposed anatomy is writ in delicately blown and sculptured turquoise, maroon, and golden glass, shapes juxtaposed with one another in elegant formations such as butterfly wings.

In other work, O’Dell revives the Ammonite in glorious dimensions. Glass is blown in varying thicknesses, carved to move light effortlessly through the helix-like form. With her sumptuous palette—at times opaque and creamy, at times delicately transparent, at times dusted with luster—the work blends realism with an aura of fantasy. O’Dell brings this amalgam of scientific accuracy and artistic license to endangered sea creatures of today such as coral, concerned that human impact on the natural world will mimic history’s astronomical disasters. The viewer’s eye dances around the craggy textures, milky colors, and clustered forms of her coral, compelling us to protect this threatened species. Themes of extinction and preservation invariably reflect back on the self and our own mortality; O’Dell’s glass pieces memorialize nature’s lost glories, endeavor to forestall future destruction, and contemplate the universal life cycle of life, death, and renewal.

Collaborating: Kelly O’Dell and Raven Skyriver

Kelly and Raven at MOG photo: Megan Stelljes

Glass Artists Kelly O’Dell and Raven Skyriver collaborate on new work to create “Remembering”.

“Remembering” 2015 photo: Kelly O’Dell

photo: Kelly O’Dell

These new series of pieces are inspired by the barnacle encrusted clams they find on walks along the Northwestern shore. Nature’s treasures like these make Kelly and Raven wonder if the barnacles grew over the clam’s opening while it was still alive.

photo: Brett Franklin

O’Dell loves to work collaboratively; her partner Raven makes the clams, while she develops the barnacles. Exploring different techniques in this creative fusion, they used cane in their clam pieces. Kelly says the barnacles are pretty labor intensive, as her process involves a series of steps.

Photo: Brett Franklin

She fuses powder on a kiln shelf to make the “plates” of the barnacles and they attach these texture rich plates, one at time to a small cone-shaped cup. This gives each barnacle some interior structure and a solid landing pad to attach (while hot) to the clamshell. The barnacles take a team of 6-12 people a full day in the studio to make. The results are enchanting, we are looking forwarding to seeing these new works in person!

photo: www.Kp-studios.com

If you receive this blog November 28-29, 2015 – Kelly and Raven are working at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma in the Hot shop this week, LIVE!

SEATTLE GLASS SEEN

Joey Kirkpatrick and Flora Mace composing a glass drawing for a Soft Cylinder.

Each spring we travel west to visit artists and select work for the upcoming season at the gallery in Stockbridge. It is a great experience and we learn something new every time. This year, we visited more than 25 artists over 5 days. Its a bit like the Woodstock of glass! Only with great food and wine and witnessing firsthand the amazing creativity and inspiration of the artists we represent.

Our first stop is Chihuly’s Boathouse, the Ballard Studio and then Chihuly Garden of Glass. Traveling to Seattle and visiting the artists studios gives us the opportunity to choose some really great work for the gallery.

Surprise treat…. Flora Mace and Joey Kirkpatrick working on a glass drawing for a Soft Cylinder at the Chihuly Boathouse! Everyone was captivated by the process and thrilled by the rare opportunity to witness these important artists working together. The team blew two huge baskets with Jim Mongraine as the gaffer. You can gain a little insight into the week by clicking on the images below and following along. Of course, you can visit our gallery and see some of the great selections we made which are being delivered over the next few weeks, not only from Seattle, but also New England, Tennessee, California, Australia, Sweden, France, Czech Republic and Italy!

See you soon! Kim & Jim

If you do not see the work you are looking for within this grouping, please let us know and we will locate the right piece for your collection.

Please fill in the information regarding the particular work you are interested in. Sometimes, we have problems with these forms, so if you do not hear back from us within 24 hours, please contact us directly at: contact@schantzgalleries.com or call the gallery at 413-298-3044.
Thank you for your interest!